The most productive ones I've grown are 'Thessaloniki' and 'Heidi', the later is smaller and ripens a bit sooner, the former comes big time in Mid September.

Thessalonkiki looks and acts like a hybrid, Heidi looks and acts like a weed :-)

They both taste great.

Bloody Butcher may be a good choice for you. The indeterminate plants start ripening fruit very early and continue.

The fruit is quite small and so are the plants. That would mean that you could have more plants per square foot of garden.

You say that you don't care about paste/oxheart/? but, I wonder about cherries. Large Red Cherry will take most of the season and grow on fairly large plants. They will, however, produce an abundance of fruit. Or at least, they have for me.

Steve

Productivity varies so much from year to year and garden to garden it is hard to say how a certain variety will perform in someone else's garden. With that being said I will offer a few of my opinions. First let me state as a general rule here the smaller tomatoes are more productive. And some of the varieties I'm going to mention would have to be started from seeds as you don't find them for sale anywhere I've been.

When talking op's/heirloom some of the first names I think of are Grandam Suzy's, Royal Hillbilly, Juane Flammee/, Dana's Dusky Rose, Cherokee Purple, Barlow Jap and Black from Tula. Some of the more productive for me have been Heinz 1439, Juane Flammee', Vintage Wine Striped, Moneymaker and Heidi. Jay

Pusta Kolox and Gigantesque are my two best.
Cherokee purple is all ways good.

I left off a couple I feel that are worth mentioning. Randy's Brandy is the most productive Brandywine strain/cross/selection I've grown. Last year in a terrible year it easily set 30 plus fruit. Most in the 3-5 ounce range and very good flavor. Another very good all around type is Glckl's 18 Mennonite.

Many that others have good results with are Sioux, Porter and Thessalonki which was mentioned above. But none of these perform well in my garden. Jay

Thank you all so much for the advice!
I'm assuming it's too late to start any of these from seed - would you folks agree?

Quote"
Thank you all so much for the advice!
I'm assuming it's too late to start any of these from seed - would you folks agree?
No I would not. Some times we try too early and the later one are just as good. With a little heat I can get tomato seeds up in 5 days. Many times its the middle of May to go out here in NE Co.

I way second ColoKid! I know this will make a lot of folks around here gasp, but I just got my tomatoe seeds put in on Sunday---expecting to see them up SOON! If I had a light setup to grow them under I'd start them sooner, but so far I've been too lazy with the lights! And if I start them any sooner without lights to keep them under, I have to carry them out and in every day until it's safe to put them in the ground--and I get SO tired of doing that! The light I have by windows is nowhere near sufficient! This is about the time I get around to starting them every year and they always seem to work out for me. They're started in plastic pots in a good quality mix--I use Sunshine #1, and as soon as they germinate they go outside as much as is possible--in ALL conditions, sun, clouds, wind, whatever (well, no hail!), as long as it's above about 45-50 degrees. Go out as soon as I get up in the morning and in when the sun's setting--and I move them around the yard as necessary to keep them in the sun as much as possible. As soon as the roots are to the bottom of the small pots they're started in they get potted up one size (to 3" pots) and normally by the time they outgrow those they can be put in the ground.

If you're new to tomatoes, whenever they get repotted or planted out, remove the lower leaves and bury the stem all the way up to the remaining leaves. Tomatoes are one of the few things that will root all along the stem, and the more roots you have, generally the "better" plant you'll have.

And Elkwc/Jay said this up above, but which tomatoes work the best for one person doesn't mean they'll necessarily be the best for others--or even for that person in different years. Tomatoes seem to be very fickle! What grows well for you will depend on your location, soil, light, water, weather, temperatures, and a whole bunch more stuff, sometimes including, I believe, The Fates! I recommend you try as many different varieties as you can for the first couple years to see which seem to (usually) work the best for you. Then keep some notes each year and (if your hard drive doesn't crash like mine did!) you'll have something to refer back to as you start to decide which ones you want to grow or try in future years. And there's ALWAYS at least a couple tomato threads here each year, so be sure to come join us in our bragging and/or misery as we discover each year what is--and is not--working!

Welcome to RMG,
Skybird

Wow! I'm so surprised that I'm not too late to plant! That's great.
I really appreciate all of your tips and advice. I am new to growing tomatoes from seed. This is only my second year really gardening (90 square feet of dirt) in anything but pots since I moved here from the fertile Iowa farm land, and it's a whole new experience :) Thanks for the reminder to keep notes... I'll try to do that to refer to in future years.

Skybird is 100 percent right, But confession time..we all try to go too early. I have half a dozen plants in the back bed room under a light that are 16 inches tall and no where to do with them. Maybe i will put them in a 5 gal bucket in the my little green house. Snow Monday ?????
KennyP